what it is, i'm reminded we too went through challenging periods, when america was divided by a bitter civil war 150 years ago. president abraham lincoln had the vision to pull us together toward a shared goal of peace and prosperity. growing up in california i didn't know much about the arab world. then after graduating from the university of california at berkeley, i traveled to north africa as peace corps engineer. i worked as an english teacher in morocco two years and quickly grew to love this part of the world. since joining the service i spent almost my entire career in middle east and africa. one of the things that impressed me were people old enough to have lived and traveled in the united states when we had closer relations. those days are back. we had 1,700 libyans apply for fullbright grants to study in the united states this year, more than any other country in the world. we know that libya is still recovering from an intense period of conflict. there are many courageous libyans who bear the scars of that battle. we are happy we have been able to treat some of your war wou